Shade
by furaiz
Summary: Follows Kazuo Nozaki in the world of SAO, as he works his way through Aincrad, meeting players like Asuna 'The Flash' and Kirito 'The Black Swordsman' as he fights for his freedom. Along the way he might just find a new purpose in life, and even turn the tides in the bitter struggle to find an escape.
1. Kayaba Akihiko is an ass

**Kayaba Akihiko is an ass**

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It had only been 2 weeks since 10,000 people had been trapped within the VRMMORPG known as Sword art Online. In this time, many people had died, due to the cruellest kind of imprisonment one could imagine. Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online, had trapped 10,000 players in his game, with no way to log out. Worse still, death in game, meant death in real life. This was a fact that had shaken people to the core. Life in Aincrad seemed hopeless to all but the strongest willed people. In such a desperate situation, people were driven to despair, and many had committed suicide, rather than continue on in this virtual world.

Others though, had the will to survive and the determination to save as many as they could, by beating the game and ending the imprisonment of thousands.

Me though, first thought that went through my head was "Oh shit!", before of course, I completely lost it and started bashing my head against a wall.

Even now, I still wish I was dreaming…

Because that damn well hurt, and I have nothing to show for it.

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**The main character in this fanfic is an OC, but most of the characters such as Asuna, Kirito, Lisbeth and others, will be included in various story arcs(You'll get several perspectives, including the standard 'everyone'). There will be a few arcs where the OC will participate very little in, instead focusing on some of the main characters you already know. Nothing will be quite the same as the Light Novels, but the story direction will progress in a similar way.**

**Well I'd ask for a review but this a short intro to the fic so I'll skip on it. I may re-edit this little thing later to improve 'first viewing' scenarios. Anyway, I'd at least like a review for any chapters I write, even if it's just to say 'Nice Chapter' it lets me know if the story is somewhat interesting enough to keep reading.**

**Until next time.**


	2. Cynicism is a way of life

**Cynicism is a way of life**

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*Crash*

"Ow!"

"Why is it that I always bang my poor head when I get up in the morning?" I grimaced.

I continued muttering and rambling to myself about 'that damn alarm clock' as I got myself ready for another day.

It had only been two weeks since I had been trapped in this game, along with 9999 others. I thought myself lucky to get my hands on one of the ten thousand copies of SAO that were for sale… At least until we were all trapped by what I could only now see as a lunatic, and forced to participate in a deadly game with my life on the line. I was pretty much alone in this world, I had no friends that had bought the game, but I counted myself lucky that I had no one to lose to this world. Only my life was at stake here. It was rather selfish of me to think that way, but I decided I had to look after myself and survive, without consideration for the other poor souls trapped along with me. Besides, trying to work with other people would only bring me heartache in the end. Why get close to people when life is such an uncertain thing?

I was a pretty average guy, about 5'8 with black hair and blue eyes, I blended into a crowd pretty well, not that I cared much. I never really liked company, spending time with people often exhausted me, and I often seemed cold and emotionless to many people. It's not as if a hot girl was going to drool over the sight of me, but eh, I think I'm pretty passable if a little bit of a loner. Before I got trapped here, I was known as Kazuo Nozaki, but in this death game, I went by the name of Shade. I wasn't a novice to MMO's but this was a cut above anything I had ever played before. I loved playing the stealthy thief type role in other MMO's, and relished the opportunity to experience it in a full virtual world.

However, the nature of the game had been changed dramatically. I couldn't simply play the thieving character I always enjoyed, as stealing from players in the game meant toying with their actual lives. Even worse, player killing now actually meant murder. This was something I was completely unwilling to do. I was never heartless enough to do that to a real person, but I still stuck to the principle of a stealthy player, never being troubled by other players and blending into the surroundings as though I didn't exist. That was best for me.

You know, nearly 300 people died on the first day. Couple of hundred more committed suicide to avoid the tender mercies of the bloodthirsty monster known as one's own troubled mind over the next week or so. Sanity is a hard thing to keep hold of in this kind of situation. Not sure I have much of it myself. In fact, I must be clinically insane to put my life at risk on a daily basis.

Putting on a plain black cloak and my two gleaming white [Wolf Fang] daggers, I activated my [Hiding] skill as I stepped out into the streets of Starting City. It was a really nice drop from some lower levelled [[Dire Wolves]]. High damage and speed, but the wolves were still simple enough to farm if you could dodge. I'm a rogue type of player, I can dodge all day. Well… I did get hit a few times, and yes, I probably should have died, seeing as how I'm a glass cannon at best right now, but it's working so far.

Hiding is an unnecessary precaution maybe, but I didn't want to risk being followed out of this city if I could help it. There was no telling who might stab you in the back, people were dangerous to be around these days. You just can't trust people. People are fickle, able to perform acts of unspeakable brutality on a whim. Now imagine people like this in a game that gives you the power to kill without true repercussions. Who could truly murder a murderer? Heck, you can't trust anyone in SAO. That's a fact. Repeat it in my head like a mantra, people can't be trusted, avoid, avoid, avoid. Eh… except for the kids, can't really call them bloodthirsty murderers can I? They're still pretty horrible things, but whatever.

I had spent most of my first week here training my hiding skill. It was surprising how easy it was to avoid being seen, especially with people being distracted and struggling to come to terms with reality. As such, my [Hiding] was already close to Lv300, sitting currently at Lv297. [Hiding] was pretty simple to level, just activate the skill in the presence of unaware players out in the fields, the system simply just keeps racking up points until you get noticed via [Detection] or plain lack of place to actually hide. At higher levels, I could probably stand in front of someone in broad daylight and to them it would look as though I wasn't there at all. Just have to hope they don't use [Detection] much. But why risk confrontation with another player if it could get you killed? Better to slip away and observe from the shadows. Reaffirm my beliefs again; hiding keeps me safe from the big bad monsters known as people.

So, after carefully examining my surroundings for signs of people, I stepped into the shadows and ghosted my way through the dark alleys and back streets to the exit of the city. It's time to get to work.

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**Notes**

**I had this story up a while ago but deleted it because I lost interest. But I decided on a writing style, so I finally am reposting hehe. It might not be enjoyable for everyone, but first person in 'combat scenarios' would be pretty fun to write. And hey, it doesn't have to be a one person perspective all the way through, I can easily write from other characters perspective or give a general conversation between characters to keep things 'fresh'. Hope you don't mind how my character thinks for now; it'll change as his 'life' changes I guess. Who knows how? I do, but I'm not telling. Now shoo, and write me that review before I strap you to a chair and force you to. I don't want to have to, so if you know what's good for you and your health, don't make me stick my daggers in you. *Evil author rant over***

**EDIT : After multiple attempts I finally realised using square brackets was the only thing that could work for 'Skills'. I was going to use a single arrow either side for things such as items, but of course formatting wouldn't allow it. So here we are, I'll rework stuff if I can later, but everything seems to be settled on my end. (If you read this story previously, I accidentally put a chapter from another one of my stories here. All fixed now!)**

**I'll keep thinking on stuff to identify Sword skills, might just highlight them in bold and have at it. Let me know whether using double square brackets for monsters is alright, or should I just Underline the names?**


	3. Brain on Adrenaline

**Brain on Adrenaline**

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*ROAAR!*

Great Rabid Bear : **Lv8**

"Goddamn! I ran into a damn mini boss!"

I drew my two [Wolf Fang] daggers and prepared to engage the foaming bear with two health bars above its snarling maw.

With a snarl, the bear charged at me, with razor sharp claws. However, I sidestepped it at the very last moment, and unleashed a devastating **Rapid Bite** with each individual dagger, causing the bear to roar in pain. Try taking a wicked sharp blade to your hamstring, I guarantee it would cripple you any day.

Now, how did I get myself in this mess? I'm almost positive I hadn't travelled that far into the wilderness. Oh that's right, I was trying to do some stupid material gathering quest. The problem I have is that once I get started on something I get carried away. Before I knew it, I was faced with this abnormally large and bloodthirsty bear, which is still rampaging around trying to kill me... Albeit a bit slower now that it's pretty much crippled and limping around on 3 legs. I just knew that my obsessiveness with MMO quests was going to get me killed someday.

But in all honesty, I've never felt a thrill like it. It's only now that I realise my sanity is definitely questionable. If someone was watching me as I charge at a ravenous beast with bloodlust in my eyes, I dare say they'd avoid me for the rest of their lives. I look half crazed!

The bear is limping now, but I know for sure it's not done yet, in fact I'd say I'd only made it angrier than before. Having thought about it, I'm pretty sure that those claws were a lot smaller when I first ran into it. Oh great, it's gone all red-eyed. The fuck is a berserk ability doing on a floor 1 mini-boss? It practically turned into Hulk and grew claws in mere moments.

No time to waste, I launch forward, my two daggers glinting evilly in the sunlight, and pointing straight at the beastie's eyes with a **Swift Leap**. This is a basic strike available with nearly every weapon, somewhat of a gap closer, and quite dangerous to get wrong, as it can leave you open for a big counter-attack. Fortunately, I hit my mark, and ram my lovely daggers through said beastie's eyes with a **Dual Stab**, forcing it to rear back on its hind legs with a snarl of pure rage and pain. This gives me all the time in the world to recover and jam a **Cross Strike** right into its chest. And big bad bear falls down.

It's done.

Now, I don't like to brag, but I think I handled that big bad bear convincingly easily. Cripple its mobility; follow up with blinding said bear, then finishing it off by practically tearing its heart out. 'Weak Point Finder' for sure. I don't know whether that's an ability I have randomly floating in my head, or I'm just supremely lucky. If this wasn't a life or death situation, I'd give the combat experience a ten out of ten. Maybe I'm unusual, but that was FUN.

After coming down from my adrenaline high, I practically freak out. Considering a simple Dire Wolf can chop my health bar in half with one swipe, a beserking giant bear would have killed me in one blow. I'm almost convinced I should be dead. The fact I stayed must mean I'm suicidal. Yes that's right, of course, I must be.

And then I get hung up on the loot. Back into thinking mode, I realise I completed my quest hours ago, and yet I was still out here, acting like a crazy lunatic. Anime tears are running down my cheeks right now, I swear. Then of course I find a nice little gift from the mini-boss. [Great Rabid Bear Claws]?

Well now, that's interesting.

Ok, so sue me, I love good drops. Now this is definitely a unique drop, sure people could still get them, but only that boss is going to drop it. And it suits my style… perrrfectly.

Looking at them, these claws are for a certain hybrid build between strength and agility, giving a nice +10 bonus to each.

Now I didn't explain how the levelling system worked did I? Well, it's simple enough, on each level up, you get 10 stat points to distribute to various parameters that affect your combat capabilities. These parameters are Strength(STR), which increases the damage you deal with a strike, and also increases how much weight you are able to lift in game. There are some real heavy weapons and stuff in here you know.

Agility(AGI) is another parameter, and this is definitely a rogue player's go to skill. This increases the speed you strike with weapons, reduces recovery time from sword skills, and also your basic sprinting speed. Too bad you have to rely on your own reactions to dodge stuff, but it's useful.

Stamina(STA) is a very important one as well. Each point gives you 5 extra hit points, and allows you to tank more damage. It also decrements the fatigue you gain from fighting, running and most activities in general. It won't turn you into a superhuman that can go for days on end, but a useful stat nonetheless.

Accuracy(ACC) is an interesting stat. This allows you to land blows easier and indirectly affects some throwing skills accuracy as well. If you can more efficiently hit an enemy's weak spot, the quicker a kill. Increases the chance of a critical strike on any part of a monster's body, you don't even have to hit that weak spot to do some hard damage.

Resistance(RES) is a defensive stat. Each point you put in it allows you to take less damage from attacks and for some reason, reduces the effect that the environment has on you. Walking through a blizzard with high resistance stats is a lot simpler for sure.

Simple on the outside, but lots of secondary effects definitely make it a complex system, it's pretty hard to choose sometimes.

I'm a hybrid style of player, but I definitely focus more on AGI/ACC with a little smattering of STR/STA as well. If I was a big meat shield, I'd go with lots of STA/RES with STR to trade blows well. In any case, blocking or avoiding is the best way to go.

So, there's a little more to add before I show off my new beauties. There's A LOT of system skills in this game.

Every five levels, you get an extra skill slot, where you can choose a skill if you meet the initial requirements for it. Levelling these skills gives you perks or extra bonuses as you go on to master them.

At the moment I'm level 8, and I have 3 skill slots. You get two to start with, which is nice. As you may know already, I have the [Hiding] skill, but I also picked up the [Detection] skill at level 5. I stand by the fact that people can be dangerous, I need it for my safety. My first skill was [Dual Daggers], which I'm now going to switch for [Claw Weapons]. Seriously, these claws are beautiful. There's a lot of a non-combat skills such as [Fishing] or forms of smithing like [Metal Refining], but also other passive skills like [Sprint]. Some skills you can unlock from quests, or some are unique skills.

Combat skills are there too, in the forms of things like [Battle Healing] which recovers a low amount of HP over time while fighting, or even armor skills like [Leather Equipment] which raises the effectiveness a player can use them with.

There's even Outside System Skills, which aren't on the list because they're simply gained with time and experience. I'll leave that to the imagination.

So, I have these beautiful [Great Rabid Bear Claws] which give me +10 STR and AGI. There's even a bonus of being able to upgrade them 8 times, but I'll get to that another time. These claws give you an indescribable feeling. I almost feel faster, but it's rather strange. The claws are actually quite long, not as long reaching as a sword, but really useful for piercing or slashing sword skills. Four sharp blades curve out from the knuckles on each pair, and they can even inflict a Bleeding effect for a few seconds. These claws definitely thirst for monster blood, and I feel like giving it to them. I must be a vampire in a previous life.

Maybe another time though, I really need to head back since the sun's going down. I don't have good night vision, and I reeeeeally don't want to run into anybody out at this time of day. Even the night time monsters somehow seem more vicious and deadly than they have any right to be but...

So of course, I start sprinting back to my private little room for a modest rent in Starting City. Maybe I'll feed these claws some fresh meat in the morning.

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**Notes**

**So yeah, levelling and skills was half this chapter, including some combat with a mini boss on floor 1. Don't hate me for it, but it'll set things up a lot easier for 'newcomers' to any basic SAO fic if there's some explanation on how this MMO works, or my version of it anyway. It's not too different to be honest. Please review of course!**

**Let me know if Accuracy would fit as a main stat, or just leave it as a %increase crit from the agility tree + weapon upgrades. I think resistance is ok, but unsure, but STR/AGI/STA are definite keepers. I'll re-edit based on reviews if necessary. Or if I decide to later I'll post it in the update list I'll start keeping down here.**

**I'm definitely going to start writing a list of Sword skills and effects in this section if its just a few in a chapter. I'll write up an entire list of what I've been using and post that as a standalone chapter at some point later through the story. For now I'm done.**


	4. This is messed up

**This is messed up**

* * *

So… I HATE alarm clocks, but somehow, I keep setting it for 6 in the morning Aincrad Standard time. To be honest, I forgot to turn it off, but I'll save face and pretend that I got up early to do a hard day's work.

Anyway, I managed to get myself a nice set of claws from a mini-boss yesterday. Admittedly, I got carried away and ended up zombie-ing my way into that encounter, but sometimes people get lucky!

Well, I did say that these lovely things have 8 upgradable slots, but I just don't have the materials for the blacksmith to actually upgrade it. I'll borrow this from my favourite anime. "Such Misfortune…"

Well, not that I'd trust just 'anyone' to upgrade this, I'd rather go to an NPC, but god knows they're useless on the first floor. Hell, I'm not even sure there's a good enough player blacksmith out there right now.

So yeah, there's a few ways to upgrade a weapon, and since this is 'Sword Art Online' weapons have a larger variety of options. You can upgrade armor and so on, but that's only for the rich people since you can't just stand and take hits all day, you actually have to have some skill in combat and deal damage.

Basically, you can upgrade Sharpness,Quickness,Heaviness,Accuracy and Durability for weapons. Sharpness increases the damage for sharp weapons such as swords and daggers, while Heaviness increases the damage for all weapons but is mainly used for blunt weapons. A heavy dagger could be used, but why bother when sharpness will do the job for you? Quickness increases the attack speed multiplier for the weapon, Accuracy increases the chance to critical hit, and Durability increases the amount of use you get before a weapon breaks. Upgrading your weapons is crucial in this game, but I'm kinda stuck with the plain weapon as is, since well… I have nothing to upgrade the darn thing with.

Armor only has two possibilities for upgrades, Durability and Fortitude. Fortitude decreases the incoming damage you take for each upgrade, while durability does exactly the same as for weapons.

Custom items can also be made by skilled player blacksmiths, which give various bonuses depending on the crafting materials used. That's all trial and error.

You might wonder how I know all this stuff right?

I could say that I read the manual, but I'd be lying. To be frank, I was a Beta Tester, one of a thousand people chosen. I learnt quite a lot of things from that, how to survive being one of them. And… actually I don't know anyone from the Beta. Huh. Guess I really do play the lone assassin type of character.

So. Today I'm going to hand in that material gathering quest I was on. I have more than enough of the items needed, due to eh… reasons already discussed. So, some NPC Seamstress, from some tiny village out in the hills called [Keru Village], had a little quest to gather wolf furs. She kind of only needed ten, and I ended up with about 50 and a set of claws from the bear. Yeah.

* * *

**_A long while later…_**

Well that was monotonous. I had so much junk in my inventory from all those fights, it took me nearly half an hour to sell it all. I got a lot of col from it all, about 3000 col, which should help quite a bit. Not only that, my shortcut through a swamp turned out to be extremely fatiguing, and quite a bit longer than the actual route to [Keru Village].

So I finally handed in the quest to the… NPC, although it's rather lifelike, which is a sign of good AI. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost say she was real. Turns out that she can make armor from any additional wolf furs I bring, if I have some wolf bones to fashion pieces from. What luck!

So now I have a full set of armor under my fairly tatty cloak now. Thing is, each piece also gives me a bonus to STR and AGI. Only a small bonus since it's like lvl 6 armor, but it's fairly sturdy compared to the normal clothing I had. [Wolf Bone Chestpiece], [Wolf Bone Leggings] and some [Wolf Bone Bracers].

Sturdy, yet still light and agile to move in. It's nice how you can't actually see the pieces of bone inserted into the wolf fur, so it just looks like I'm wearing black and grey furry clothes. Or it would if I didn't have the cloak, but whatever.

I decided it was time I should go farm some upgrade materials for my claws, since I haven't actually had any practice using them yet. Funnily enough, the upgrade materials I needed were from some [[Killer Wasp]] mobs. Just so happens that they hang around the woods a short way away from the village. Yes. Today is my day!

So, these claws are amazing. I realised that I must feel like Wolverine does, an interesting character from some western cartoon I know about. I forget what it was. Of course, aside from the 'indestructible claws' bit, since I still have to repair these things.

I have a new favourite move. It's called **Rend**, and it's incredibly satisfying. Now, it only takes one use of it to kill off these low levelled mobs, but each and every time is fun. Basically you jam both claws into the enemy's body, then scoop outwards, literally tearing them apart. I started to realise that claws aren't just about speed, and now I'm thinking, yeah, I never want to use any other weapon.

After a while of this, I decided I'd collected more than enough of the [Killer Wasp Stinger] item that I needed. It was actually quite interesting; all you need is a [Killer Wasp Stinger] to either upgrade Sharpness or Durability. I don't have the resources to go find the other kinds of upgrade materials I could use quite yet, so I'm happy.

So happy in fact, I'm practically skipping back to the village to rent a room for the night.

Of course, something distracted me on the way back. It's getting rather late, but I can't help but feel that someone is watching me. Yeah, my [Detection] skill is definitely warning me that someone is in the general area trying to remain hidden. I have to play this carefully. I don't know who it is, what they want, and for all I know, it could be someone who's going to try and rob me blind. No way in hell is that happening to me. I can't give away that I've detected them already, or they might go get reinforcements or something, and that could be bad news for me.

I've slowed down a bit, to give off the impression that I'm tired as I walk back to [Keru Village]. I get this kind of glint in my eye when I'm about to do something important/serious, so if this person could see my face, they'd have every right to be worried. I pretend to be taking a quick look in my inventory, and I can practically sense this person is under a false sense of security now. Odd, didn't think [Detection] allowed me to sense intent, but I'll worry later.

To the casual observer, what I did next is probably going to make them think I did magic. However, all I simply did was activate a little trick from my [Hiding] skill called a [Wisp Bomb]. It's not the a smoke bomb that you can buy or create in the game, but one which makes it look as though I melted away into the air.

I can feel it now. The oh so sneaky spy person following me is definitely a little nervous, and a little wary, but that won't help one bit. During the time I 'wisped' away, I managed to sneak into the forest on my left, and come around behind said person.

They're definitely being far more cautious than before, but my [Hiding] has improved over the last two days, there's no chance they'll see me coming.

I'm just inches away from this person, who seems fairly innocuous, with a simple grey cloak and a short dagger now being held in their right hand.

I act.

I quickly disarm the person from behind, before spinning them around, and pinning them to a tree, with my claws held to the neck. They're screwed.

It was rather minimal resistance from this person, who only produced a slightly surprised uh, squeak as I completely turned the tables around on them in a matter of a second or two.

One quick look at the face behind the hood has me confused.

"Well… This really is a surprise." I said. Unfortunately, I look like a bloodthirsty person with my toothy 'evil grin' and almost mad eyes. This wasn't what I intended, but It came out that way regardless.

Well of course, it would be my luck to meet a person like this.

* * *

**FINISHED CHAPTER**

***Evil laugh* Suffer! Suffer! Suffer as I make you wait to find out!**

**Until next time hehe.**


	5. A bit of Mindbending

**A bit of Mindbending**

* * *

Hello! Glad to see you again!

But ignore my greetings for now; I have a situation on my hands. I am also slightly slack-jawed, but I'll recover momentarily.

"Pray tell, because I'm not sure if I'm hallucinating or something, but don't I know you?" I asked the slightly trembling person in front of me.

Silence.

"I'll go out on a limb here and call you Suenami-san. That is your name right?"

A small gasp of surprise.

Well now we're getting somewhere!

"You really don't seem the type to play a game like this you know?" I questioned the now identified Suenami-san. Surprisingly, I know this person in real life. Well when I say 'know', I know their name and what they look like, but I'm hardly acquainted with the girl. Yep. Kaoru Suenami, or Suenami-san to be respectful, is a girl in my school class. The unusual thing is, she always seemed to disappear at times, and not that anyone paid any attention, or cared really. I didn't care, but I'm not exactly a model person anyway. Heck, even I just wandered off and spent time by myself, just because I could. I'm antisocial. Then again, I already told you that.

Suenami-san is a fairly simple girl, curly auburn hair and brown eyes. Also, here's a bit of information for you. She's afraid of dogs. Funnily enough, I filed away everybody's fears in a little corner of my brain, when everyone introduced themselves in school. I don't know why, but I think I might have gotten some amusement out of it for a while. I'm not telling you any of my fears, so you can wipe the hopeful looks off your faces.

"Argo." She replies.

SHE SPEAKS! HALLELUJAH!

"Sorry, what?" I retort.

"Call me Argo!" she speaks up a bit more forcefully this time.

Now, I might have called her Argo, but I'm not exactly through with her just yet.

"Suenami-san, why should I have to call you Argo?" I asked her, because yes, I am genuinely confused as to why I should have to.

Of course, then she has to start stuttering and generally being incoherable.

"Gnnh, fine Argo-san." I speak up, a slightly annoyed tone in my voice.

"Can you let go of me now?" she asks, sounding slightly exasperated.

She could have worded it better, especially as I'm holding her up against a tree. Of course, who am I not to follow her request to the letter?

Predictably, I drop her.

She made quite a cute squeal when she landed on her ass, but I'm not really interested in her comfort right now.

"So rough aren't you Nozaki?" she jokes.

"Way to defuse the tension." I reply sarcastically. "Now if I have to call you Argo, you call me Kazuki."

After picking herself up and dusting her cloak off, she finally pays attention again.

"So." She says.

"So." A nice quick reply from yours truly.

This conversation is not going anywhere and fast, so it's about time I got some answers from 'Argo'.

"So what exactly are you doing playing this game?" I ask politely.

"Dumb question. I'd ask you the same, but I know the answer already." she replies.

"Fair point. How about something more important then?" I ask back. I put a particular emphasis on 'important' and fix a steely gaze on her.

"You know, I don't really have time to waste, so how about you tell me where you got those claws Kazuki-kun?" she rebuts me. I'd never have guessed, but she can be pretty direct huh.

"So… You followed me. Just so you could find out where my claws are from?" I ask incredulously.

"I could have killed you, you crazy… whatever the hell you are!"

"Calculated risk in my line of work Kazuki-kun." She replies confidently.

I swear people really are different online! My god!

Then it clicks.

"Don't tell me… You're supposed to be Argo the Rat, aren't you?" I groan through gritted teeth.

"The one and only Kazuki-kun!" she responds.

*Facepalm*

"Why is it always the quiet ones?" I mutter vehemently.

"You're the damn information broker from Beta…" I point out the obvious.

"Yeah, but I never heard of you in the Beta. And I'm THE information broker!" she cuts in.

Almost as if by instinct, my lips curve into a classic slasher grin.

"Well, well. So the famous Argo never saw me in the Beta huh?" I said with a dangerously cold tone in my voice. "Perhaps you could come up… with a conclusion… as to why that is?" I start 'sharpening' my claws on each other.

She definitely wasn't expecting that, judging by her reaction. Almost immediately, she flinched and looks at me sharply with wide eyes.

"I see you realised why?" I talk again, the chill in the air from my icy voice seemingly making her shiver slightly.

She looks like she can hardly breathe, her limbs are rigid. Surely it must have sunk in, she's unarmed, and pretty much helpless right now.

"Pker…" she breathes out in a shuddering breath.

Right in one. Yes, in the Beta, I was a pretty avid player killer, unusually clever and gifted at picking off people in the wilderness, for my own amusement of course. Now I do have to be frank, I'm not going to be killing anyone if I have a choice, especially since it's now a life or death thing. Reality really is quite boring. But I have to get some fun out of this while I still have the opportunity you know? Yes, I do know I'm a sadistic bastard, but life made me this way. That's a story for another time.

"Ahhh, correct my dear Argo." I answer, still continuing with my 'kill' voice. "You know…"

I trail off, watching as Argo looks to be on the verge of a panic attack/breaking down and crying. It's then I realise I might be pushing it a little far for her heart to take. She does know me in real life after all. But she really doesn't know what I'm like, which is why this was so effective. Psychological torture is the only explanation for what I've been doing.

And realising that, I turn back to a somewhat sane person.

"I really wasn't going to kill you Argo. In fact, I'm surprised you thought I would, considering the implications." I speak up in a soft and soothing tone of voice. Yes, I am capable of that. Don't laugh.

Argo visibly relaxes at this declaration, but it's easy to see she's still quite nervous. Argo the Rat from Beta was supposed to a clever, calm and confident player in the face of any odds, but it's unlikely anyone could get under her skin in quite the same way I managed. Unless they set dogs on her maybe. But who's honestly going to find out about that?

"Then again, I might if you annoy me." I speak again, this time with a teasing grin.

Unfortunately, there is no difference between the teasing grin and slasher grin in my case.

Rinse and repeat.

I drop the smile abruptly.

"Guess I shouldn't joke about that." I add gently.

"You don't say?" Argo breathes out nervously.

And during all of this, the sun has now officially set. Well, that's not good news, since all the big bad beasties of the forest are mostly night time things, and quite a lot stronger than the mobs out during the day.

Argo also seems to realise this, but the snarling and howling slowly getting closer to us is definitely the main reason for the sudden understanding of how screwed we are. Well crap, I was paying too much attention to Argo, my [Detection] skill warnings went unnoticed.

"Kazuki… My weapon." She talks to me, voice barely a whisper in the night.

I blink stupidly for a moment, before realising something crucially important.

Dropped weapons, such as the dagger Argo once carried, have a time limit before they disappear for good. Unfortunately, that dagger is long gone.

"Long gone." I reply quickly, trying not to show any of my worries. Unfortunately, Argo is definitely in a bit of a panic, as one would be when you have nothing to fight off monsters with.

A few moments later, and a pack of mobs start becoming visible through the trees.

It doesn't take me long to realise that we're now surrounded, by a group of Dire Wolves. During the day, they're not as strong, but during the night, it's like they gain a level or two boost, so they're probably the low to high end of Lv8, and there's… quick count… 9 of them.

Due to only being on the first floor, there is no way anyone has levelled up enough to be able to run away from fast mobs such as these.

But I may really regret what I'm about to do now.

"Hey Argo…" I speak quietly. "I hope you know how to run." A small smirk pops up on my face, hiding how nervous I feel.

I give her no time to reply, before I charge around in a circle, swiping my claws on each wolf's nose, for some minimal damage. What I've really done though, is get all nine wolves, focused on me.

I can only hope she thinks on her feet quickly enough.

As for me… Things are about to get really difficult.

* * *

**Notes.**

**So I'm hoping it was somewhat of a surprise. The more clever ones would have figured out who it may have been before this chapter, but it was pretty vague to begin with. So don't feel rubbish if you got it completely wrong. heh.**

**Next time, fight of Kazuki's life. I took a trick out of Kirito's book, and decided to rename from Shade to a mix between Kazuo Nozaki. I'll update the mention of 'Shade' as his in game name in previous chapters, so no worries. Although I believe I only mentioned it once anyway.**

**Feel welcome to offer any constructive criticism, ideas for changes etc. I will look at everything since I want to make this an enjoyable read. I have a lot of the storyline planned out, but I'm able to change it around as I see fit for now.**

**I also think I'll rename the title based on a nickname, like 'Argo the Rat', 'The Black Swordsman', 'Asuan the Flash' etc. I just need to think of a nickname based on the guy's personality and what his role in the story is. Since you guys don't know what he's doing in the future, it might be unfamiliar. You're also welcome to nickname the guy, I might pick one of the options you offer, if it's good enough. Shade is just too… unoriginal? I'm going to fix that for sure.**

**Until next time!(Please review if you do read it, even if you don't like it, say why.)**


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